What is new in the new accusation against Donald Trump? – Smart Environment

Trump allegedly attempted to destroy evidence in the federal case involving classified documents.
Special counsel Jack Smith unexpectedly filed a new indictment against former President Donald Trump on Thursday night, an entirely different indictment than many observers close to Smith thought he might bring today.
The new indictment, called the “additional indictment” because it supersedes an earlier court filing outlining the charges against Trump, involves allegations that Trump illegally withheld classified national security documents after leaving the White House and could no longer legally possess them. The new indictment adds another count of unlawful withholding of national security information and also charges Trump with attempting to destroy surveillance video that was requested by federal investigators.
This case is taking place in federal court in Florida and is completely separate from another indictment Smith is expected to file against Trump in Washington, DC. Smith is also investigating Trump’s attempt to overthrow President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election and Trump’s possible involvement in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6. Smith’s office has already informed Trump that he is likely to face charges stemming from that investigation.
In any case, the biggest story in the new Florida indictment is that Trump allegedly instructed his staff members to destroy surveillance video inside his Mar-a-Lago residence, after Trump learned that the Justice Department was seeking that video as part of its investigation into national security documents kept at Trump’s residence.
The indictment alleges that after Trump’s lawyers learned that the Justice Department would be looking for the surveillance footage, Trump spoke with two employees: his assistant, Walt Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveira, Mar- a-Lake. These two employees then instructed a third Trump employee to delete the security footage, though it is unclear if the video was actually removed. The indictment refers to an “attempt” to destroy security footage.
The indictment does not reveal what was said in many conversations between Nauta, De Oliveira and Trump, but it does include some key details linking Trump to the effort to destroy the video footage. At one point, De Oliveira allegedly told the third, unidentified Trump employee that “the boss” wanted the footage deleted. The indictment also alleges that Trump called de Oliveira and told his employee that he would get her a lawyer.
The new indictment accuses Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira, the latter of whom Smith had not previously charged with any wrongdoing, with violating two different federal statutes during this attempt to destroy evidence.
The first establishes as a crime if someone “corruptly… alters, destroys, mutilates or conceals a record, document or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the integrity or availability of the object for use in an official proceeding”. This statute should prohibit the attempt to destroy video images if those images were being used in a grand jury investigation or other similar proceeding.
The second statute, meanwhile, makes it a crime to “corruptly” try to persuade someone to tamper with or destroy evidence. Smith alleges that the three defendants violated this provision when they tried to get Trump’s third employee to delete the surveillance footage.
The new indictment also includes a third count against De Oliveira, alleging that he lied to the FBI when asked if he moved any of the boxes that arrived at Mar-a-Lago after the Trump presidency.”